SO WHAT IS NEW THIS COMING NEW YEAR:

We all hope that something new happens each new year we enter

We have a brand new calendar to start using, filling it with appointments, birthdays, holidays, vacations etc.

We always hear people say that “they hope that things will get better in the new year”

Some people want to forget what they went through the previous year, with hopes that the upcoming New Year will bring the changes that they need in their lives

Besides all the standard new things that we mentioned above, there is one thing that I know for sure can become brand new…….You; that’s right, you can become a brand new person this coming new year, and can even happen before the new year gets here, and that is just a few days away.

Interested? Then I will tell you that there two ways that this can come about. To find out how this can take place, you will have to do one of the following two things.

1.    Attend our Sunday Morning Service at 10:45 AM at the Lowell Assembly of God Church, 995 Andover Street, Tewksbury, Ma. 01876, 978-851-9800

2.    Check out the archives on our home page around January 2, 2012. Here is the link www.lowellag.org scroll down the right side of the page and look for the archives button, then look for Pastor Steve’s message on January 1^st.

See you then:

Where should we spend Thanksgiving?

I realize that Thanksgiving was a week ago, but I wanted to share with you an event that took place at our church; Lowell Assembly of God, located in the town of Tewksbury, Ma.

This story really begins in November of 2010, just after the Thanksgiving holiday. My wife and I had dinner with my daughter and our grandchildren. Over the next day or two, I mentioned to my wife, that the following year (2011) we could give up spending Thanksgiving with our girls and plan on spending Thanksgiving Day at our church, having dinner with those who did not have family members in the area, or those who decided not to travel to see their family for the holiday.

My wife agreed with the idea and I spoke to a couple of the women in the church and shared the idea with them, and they also thought that it would be a great thing to do. So the plans were laid, but nothing more happened until September of this year (2011), at which time we formed a group that would spearhead the plans for putting this altogether; about ten of us met and came up with the idea to ask for volunteers to purchase the food and cook the food at home so that everything would not have to be prepared at the church.

The plan was announced on Sunday Morning’s during the service, seeking those who would like to join us in planning this dinner event. There were about 25 people who said yes to the idea and also some who stated that they wanted their children to be involved and learn the blessing of serving others.

At another meeting, a guest list was prepared of those both, inside and outside our church who we thought would enjoy a home cooked meal and fellowship with others on Thanksgiving Day. Including those who volunteered, the guest list grew to somewhere between 70-80 people.

At another meeting, all those who stated that they would do the cooking at home were given their assignments on what to prepare. So the plan was put into action and now we just had to check the progress over the next few weeks to insure that everything was in place.

On Wednesday, November 23^rd, about 15 of us met at the church to set up tables, chairs, serving tables and all the goods that are associated with putting on a large meal, in about two hours, everything was in place for the next day; even some of the food had been dropped off.

It was decided that on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, fifteen of us were going to meet for breakfast to kick off the day’s activities. We met at the church at 9:00 AM to start pealing and cooking fifty pounds of potatoes and to start warming up the food.

We had set 12:00 Noon, to begin serving, and we had estimated that about 70-80 people would be served, but to our surprise, we served 140 meals! There had only been eight turkeys cooked, along with a couple of turkey breasts. The most amazing part of the day’s event, was the fact that we did not run out of anything that we were serving. As a matter of fact, we had enough left over to serve scores of others. None of the food went to waste as the leftovers were given to individuals and groups in the city of Lowell.

What a Blessed Day we all experienced as the Lord assisted us in feeding the multitudes just as He did when He walked this earth over two thousand years ago.

Thank you Lord Jesus for allowing all of us to be your servants: 

Is God Hiding on Us?

Have you ever had the feeling that God was hiding from you? Have you ever felt that He is far from you?

Looking at it another way; we can ask the question; Do you ever go looking for God? I believe that the answer to that question is, yes, but sometimes it is only when we are facing a crisis in our lives.

For example; I am reminded that on September 11, 2001, the United States of America was attacked and the innocent lives of over 3000 people were lost. In the days and weeks to come, the television was full of broadcasts showing thousands of people and leader of Cities, States and the Nation filing into church’s and many prayer were made asking God to protect us from further attacks like those that had just occurred.

Our nation was brought together by this major event; it seemed that we put aside our differences and pulled together, neighbor helping neighbor, praying together and comforting each other. Assuring each other that everything was going to be OK.

At that time our attention was focused on God as we asked Him for protection and we sought Him, asking that He would comfort those who had suffered the loss of a husband or a wife, a dad, a son or daughter. We cried out to God as a nation as fear rose, not knowing if another attack was imminent.

As the days, weeks and months moved on, we saw less of the prayer gatherings on the news. We heard less about the gatherings for prayer that had been so numerous until it seemed that as a nation, we went back to life as before. The crisis was over; we returned to business as usual, and life moved on.

I am reminded that this great nation was founded on believing in the Word of God. Prayer was part of our daily lives; prayer was even offered in Congress before the beginning of each session. Prayer and the public reading of the Bible was practiced in the public schools before the beginning of the school day.

As a nation; we have removed prayer from our schools, the reading of God’s Word has slipped into history; the Ten Commandments have been removed from the walls of our public buildings, and the list goes on.

Have we; as a nation arrived at a point where we have placed God in a glass case and attached Him to the wall, and we only break the glass, as it were and bring Him out, only in case of a national emergency? If that is true; how can we dare to ask God to protect us, when He is no longer the center of our love and affection? If this is true; we, as a nation are in deep trouble. God has blessed this Nation beyond measure over the years, but we have come to a point and walked away from God and His Mercy. God is not hiding from us, but we are trying to hide from Him. \

It is time to seek the Lord while He may be found as Isaiah the Prophet has stated….

Isaiah 55:6-7 (NIV)
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

And also in the book of James…

James 4:8 (NIV)
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

As an individual, family state and nation; it is time that we return to God and seek His forgiveness. Return to prayer as a source of everyday life. To create or reinstate our relationship with Jesus Christ; To repent of our sins, turn from our immoral ways; Then; we can ask God to Bless us once again.

PRAYER WORKS;

PRAYER MAKES THE IMPOSSIBLE, POSSIBLE!

So What's With All This Social Media Stuff?

Have you ever asked yourself the question; "Why do I need all this Social Media?"

I think that it kind of funny how we have so many ways of staying in touch with family and friends today. I think that we all would rather Text someone, or write on someone's wall, or send a Tweet; but; it seems that the only way we do not communicate much anymore is the old fashion way. Face to face.

I imagine that if all of us waited until we could sit down across from one another to say what's on our mind, then nothing much wold be said.

We all live very busy lives and it seems that there is never enough time to get everything done that is on our calendar to do.

I am sure that a lot of us use the same Social Media to stay in touch with everyone else, but I wanted to share the Media I use to stay in touch. All I know is; we are using methods today that were never thought of 10 or so years ago. One instance is; about a month ago, I received a SMS Picture of a friend of mind who had just taken off from Atlanta, returning to Boston. He had text me a picture of the plane he was on at 30,000 feet. Unbelievable!! to say the least.

Anyway; back to my media outlets that I use:
Twitter: I use this mode to send out what is called "Word for the Day" after it is sent out to our Prayer List. By posting the link on Twitter, it automatically gets posted to my Face Book Page and also for the Lowell Assembly of God Face Book Page. Makes it real simple to spread the Word

Face Book: I find that using face book is more than just using it for a gossip column. I have found it to be an ever increasing means to keep in touch with family, friends and members of our church. I let FB run in the background as long as I am home or at the office, and find that folks will contact me with Prayer Requests, Questions on the Bible, Advise or just to say hello. If used properly; Face Book is a great tool to have in your Communications Arsenal.  

Skype: This is another means to communicate that I have running most of the time. I use Skype to stay in touch with other Ministers, Missionaries, Friends that live out of state, and even some friends that are traveling around the world on their Nordhavn 48 foot Passage Maker. Skype is also used to text my contacts on the program.

Of course; everyone seems to have at least 1-4 E-Mail Accounts. You may even use one as your top secret account, that only your closes friends have access too. 

Echo-Link: This is a program that I use to communicate with other Amateur Radio Operators all over the world; but it is restricted to HAM'S as we are called, so enough said.

In today's society, there are folks who would rather text you than call you, so I am glad that I use a Smart Phone to send/receive Text's. And the funny thing is, when all else fails I can use the Cell Phone portion, to actually talk to someone.  

There are many other means and devices that we all can use to stay in touch with one another; It is just amazing how technology has changed over the past years; even more exciting as to what the future holds.

There you have it; my take on Social Media:

Hudson, NH 911 Memorial

I went to have breakfast with my youngest daughter this morning, and we also visited the new Hudson, NH 911 Memorial, which includes a steel beam from an elevator shaft from "Ground Zero" I hope that you enjoy the pictures.

God Moved on 9-11-11

As I have indicated in the Bio of my Blog; I said that my blog would be about my family, but mostly about being in the ministry.

I want to share with you what happened when I was invited to preach at the Iglesia Cristiana Ebenezer AOG church in Lowell, Ma. on September 11, 2011.

A couple of weeks prior to this, Pastor Cecilio Hernandez had e-mailed me to ask if I would be available to preach on 9-11-11. I checked my calendar and confirmed that I was not scheduled to preach at my church (Lowell Assembly of God, as Associate Pastor) and that I would love to come and share the Word of God with his congregation.

When we agreed that I would go to his church, I begin to think and to ask the Lord, what would I speak on. The first message that came into my mind was one that I had preached on in my own church about a month prior, which was “Carest Thou Not That We Perish” The text was taken from the Gospel of Mark 4:35-39.

I was confident that I had the correct message to bring before the people. I had not preached in another church for about eight years, and I want to tell you how much of a serious matter it is to stand behind a “Pulpit” and preach the Word of God to folks you do not know.

Sunday, September 11, 2011 arrived, and my wife Lynne and I were very excited about going to Pastor Cecilio’s church; we arrived early to talk to him to see if there was anything special we had to do. The service started and we were pleasantly surprised to see and hear how those folks got into the Worshiping of the Lord. They came to church ready to Worship the Lord and started to worship even before the Service was officially underway. We just felt at home and entered in with the rest of the congregation.

They were kind to us, as they sang the songs in both Spanish and English. We knew most of the words of the songs, but even when Spanish was being spoken, we felt the same Spirit and were able to enter in.

Let me get on with this story, as you have been kind enough to read it so far, and don’t stop now, the best is yet to come.

Pastor Cecilio introduced my wife and I to the folks and I began to share what God had laid on my heart. I had to remember not to ramble on as Pastor Cecilio had to interrupt for me and we quickly got in sync with each other.

The message was about asking God the question, “Do you really care if I perish.” We know that the answer is a resounding YES; He does care. In the Scripture, the Disciples asked Him the same question as their boat was filling with water and they could do nothing about the situation they were in, except cry out to the Lord.

We can and do the same thing when we are facing situations in life, where we can do nothing about the trials of life that we face. The message was delivered and was well received by the congregation.

However; that is not the end of the story; I did not realize the impact that message had until after the service was over and we had walked to the back of the church, ready to leave, when a woman, holding her grandchild (not sure of boy or girl) asked if she could speak to me…….I said sure….then she begin to tell me that she has been going through many trials of late, and they were so severe that she had been thinking of taking her own life.

She stated that when she had those feelings that she began to talk to God and tell Him that she was going to return to church, as she had been missing quite a bit as of late. She stated that she told God, that if and when she returned to church, that He would have to talk to her. “You’ve got to talk to me” she stated.

She went on to tell me that the message that was preached that morning was just for her. She was asking God if He really cared for her because she felt that she was about to be overcome and swamped by the billows of life that we all face sometimes. She stated that God DID SPEAK TO HER, through the words of the message and her hope and faith was renewed.

I am certainly glad that I listened to the Spirit prompting me to preach what was preached, as someone needed to hear that “God Does Care if We Are Perishing” and He will come to our aid, and bring us to a safe harbor while traversing the seas of life.

Yes; God Moved on 9-11-11

Thank You Jesus:     

My Labor Day Weekend:

I need to do some catching up with my Blog, so here it is. If I remember correctly, over the last few years, my wife and I have spent Labor Day at my youngest daughter’s in Hudson, NH, along with my oldest daughter and the rest of the family members.

This year, we ended up being along do to our girls having plans to be at other places. That was fine with the wife and I as we were thinking of doing something else. We had originally planned on staying home and watching the Walton’s Marathon, as we really like that show. As it turned out; I think that it was the Friday night of the Labor Day Weekend that we were watching Chronicle, and they mentioned the “Clam Box” in Ipswich, MA, so my wife and I decided to take a ride there on Monday, which was Labor Day.

I decided to take the long slow way, by traveling Rte. 133 from Lowell, Ma. to Ipswich, Ma. which would take us about 45 minutes. We thought that we would leave about 11 AM get there just after they opened. Well; we arrived to find a line out the door with about a 25 minute wait. Once inside, we had to wait again to place our order and receive our food.

Was it worth it? Well; my wife said that her sea food was very good, and my chicken fingers were good, but not enough to make me want to travel to Ipswich again when I can get good tasting Chicken Fingers locally.

I decided to take the highway home to get ahead of the holiday traffic that would be coming home from the long weekend. We had to make a couple of stops on our way home, but still arrived about 4:00 PM.

All in all, it was a good weekend, and we know that fall is on the way.